


excuse me, sir?

by sweethanjisung



Series: skz random dabbles [2]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Romantic Comedy, Comedy, Dating, First Meetings, IKEA, IKEA Furniture, M/M, Meet-Cute, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Fluff, Teen Romance, i love it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-15 22:29:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21025763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweethanjisung/pseuds/sweethanjisung
Summary: seungmin works at ikea, felix wants to buy a table





	excuse me, sir?

**Author's Note:**

> this is dedicated to @skznroses on twitter. happy birthday beautiful <3

it was just another normal saturday morning. seungmin woke up at 8 am sharp; ate breakfast; brushed his teeth; got dressed in his hideous uniform; and left for work in his car that his friends describe as the death mobile. he didn’t mind that he worked at ikea which was only ten minutes away from his house. working a minimum wage job where you get yelled at by not only your manager but faux interior decorator moms as well made seungmin so eager to come to work each shift. okay, scratch that, he hated it. the only reason he applied was so his best friend, hyunjin could get ikea’s fifty dollar bonus for referring a friend. but ikea pays him the same as any other job would, and they build his schedule around his classes and study time which was a plus. seungmin knew he would not find a better part-time job, and his managers know it too. curse them, seungmin thought.

this saturday wasn’t any special compared to the last six saturdays seungmin has worked. it’s the same shift, 10-5, in the same department, living/dining showroom. seungmin knew this shift was going to be slow, tiring, or awful, but more likely all of the above. when he walked through the employee room doors, he pulled out his phone and sat on one of the hard wooden chairs. there was no way he was going to start early, instead, he was going to enjoy his last five minutes of freedom with some mario kart. 

after losing two races, seungmin angrily put his phone back in his pocket and left to go start his shift. he punched in on the clock, the number he’s been assigned to for the past two months, 4419, and left to go to the floor. seungmin made his way to the showroom and made a beeline straight to where he knew hyunjin was working. 

“hey,” seungmin greeted as he stepped foot into the kitchen showroom. the worst showroom of them all. seungmin was glad he never has yet to work a shift here, the last thing he would want is to deal with pretentious dads who think being able to operate a barbeque makes them gordon ramsey. 

hyunjin placed the fruit basket he was arranging in the centre of the island down, and turned to look at him. “how did it go?”

“what? no hello? has the hwang hyunjin finally decided he is too good to offer a greeting to his simple peasant friend seungmin?” seungmin joked. hyunjin ignored him and picked up a styrofoam apple to polish with the cloth he had. seungmin sighed, “fine. if you really must know, it went horribly.”

“all your dates seem to be going horribly,” hyunjin commented, not even breaking focus from the tiny circles he was rubbing into the fake fruit.

“yeah i know, i know! but this time i swear it wasn’t my fault!” he defended. seungmin watched hyunjin for a sign of a response, but when all the older boy did was smirk, he knew he didn’t believe him. “it was! I’m not even kidding! he took me out to this fancy restaurant, it was named after a number, 19 or something? anyways that’s not important. so we are both sitting at the table, i’m telling him about the university and he starts to flag down the waiter to pour us some more wine-”

“wine? i thought you hated wine.”

“i do!” seungmin agreed, drawing out the phrase. “but i was too shy to tell him i didn’t like it and he seemed so excited to order it for us, i just couldn’t say no.”

hyunjin snickered, “bitch.”

“shut the hell up,” seungmin snapped. “now where was i? oh right! so the waiter sees his hand and comes over to starts pouring the wine into the glasses. i had to go to the bathroom so i excused myself like the gentlemen i am. but as i was standing up, the waiter moved over closer to me to fill the other glass and i guess somehow i hit his arm.”

“seungmin,” hyunjin sighed.

“it gets worse,” he stated. “so the wine is now all over the table and i feel horrible. i quickly grabbed one of those fancy table napkins to clean it up, and i end up accidentally hitting my dates cup and it falls over into his lap.”

“what did you do then?” hyunjin probed, trying to stifle his laughter. his full attention now on seungmin. 

“well i did the most obvious thing, i used the napkin to help clean up the spill. so while i was patting his crotch, he stood up to go to the bathroom and clean off… except he took all his things with him, and he never came back.”

“oh my god kim seungmin! you did not decide to pat your date's crotch thinking that would make things better,” hyunjin said with a laugh.

“what else was i supposed to do? leave him there with red wine all over his nice dress pants? i had to pay the full $134 for the wine. turns out my date decided to order one of those expensive italian ones, i was too busy plotting how i was going to afford to eat this week with no money instead of how i just violated my poor date”

“well, maybe this is a sign. maybe he just wasn’t the guy for you. but good news one of my friends, chan, you remember chan right? you went on a date with him like, two weeks ago? he took you laser tagging and you screamed every time you thought you had a laser on you.”

“yes,” seungmin sighed. he remembered that date. “how could i possibly forget when you mention it almost every day?”

“sorry bro, but seriously? even six-year-olds play laser tag and not scream at how scary it is.”

“well good thing i’m five years old then,” seungmin said.

hyunjin just rolled his eyes, “as i was saying, chan has a friend named changbin. he said changbin looks like this very sad and emo boy you would find on tiktok, but is actually a soft cloud on the inside. i thought you should go for it, he's practically the opposite of you.”

“what the hell does that mean? i’m a soft cloud!” 

“it means you look like the softest cuddly cloud on the outside, but i know deep down inside, you are just some sad little emo boy who wants to make tiktoks alone in his room.”

“i am not,” seungmin said crossing his arms. “i don’t even have a tiktok account.”

“okay, then explain why i need somebody was your most played song last year, hm? or how about i walked in on you standing suspiciously in the middle of your bedroom with your phone propped against your pillow?”

“uhm, well because, i was taking a photo for- for my mom. she wanted to see my outfit and you know how i just can’t say no to her!”

“uh-huh, sure.” 

“it’s true! i can show you the photo and everything!” seungmin defended. 

“okay want to be emo. whatever you say,” hyunjin turned back to his fruit, this time picking up a pear to polish. 

“i'm going to be alone forever,” seungmin sighed. the younger walked across the counter from hyunjin and sat himself down on one of the white barstools. 

“shut the hell up, no you are not. you say that after every date, and if i have to hear it one more time, i swear i will cancel your day6 album preorder.”

“woah that is so uncalled for dude,” seungmin exclaimed. “but you and i both know it’s true, and do you know why?”

“is it because you’re ugly and all you do is sit at home watching your emo animes in your sweatpants that have holes in the crotch and eat cheetos?” hyunjin replied, glancing up a seungmin with a smirk.

“no! i’ve never done that!” seungmin lied. he knows hyunjin has caught him many times sitting in the dark, cheetos in hand, and some random anime playing on the screen in front of him. those were not his best moments. “fine, maybe once or twice. but they weren’t cheetos, they were doritos. not the boring kind, but the ones in the lime green bag.”

seungmin stood up form the stool he was on and moved back around the counter to stand closer to hyunjin. he leant against the marble countertop and placed his chin on his hand, “maybe i’m just not meant to ever find love. maybe i’m like, one of those people who are meant to live life by themselves. a lone wolf.”

“you are not,” hyunjin said pushing seungmin’s elbow of the countertop. The other boy quickly stopped his chin from hitting the counter and threw a glare at the older boy before continuing. 

“how do you know that? are you a secret love doctor? because last time i checked you are just some random part-time ikea employee who works twenty-five hour weeks alongside school because mommy and daddy want you to learn financial independence.” hyunjin turned his head and gave seungmin a murderous glare. the other boy through boy his hands off and slow took two steps back, “sorry, a touchy subject i know. but you know what i mean. you don’t actually know.”

“exactly seungmin!” hyunjin exclaimed throwing the pear in his hand down into the fruit bowl. he sighed while turning to face his co-worker who was just looking at him, waiting for him to go on. “you don’t know. i don’t know. no one knows okay? you might find the love of your life in five years, or maybe in five months, or who knows? maybe in five minutes. but what’s the point of standing here and crying about it? why hold yourself back and not venture out into the world and find it yourself!”

“because,” seungmin started, looking down at his feet not meeting hyunjin’s intense look “i see how happy minho and jisung are. how happy you are with jeongin, and i guess… i guess i want it too. i want to be in love and have someone to hold. someone to go to after working at this piece of shit job. just someone who can make me happier than no other.”

“and you will minnie. maybe this guy wasn’t the one for you? so what? the next person you meet might be your happy ever after,” hyunjin stated, looking at his friend with sympathetic eyes. hyunjin turned and picked up a bundle of grapes from the fruit bowl, before turning and looking back at seungmin. “look at me seungmin, my love life hasn’t been a smooth ride either. i had to have gone on at least seventeen dates with girls before i even realized that i was in love with one of my best friends, or even the fact i was gay for that matter. my point is, maybe what you’re looking for could be right in front of your face and you’re just blind to it.”

seungmin sighed, “i guess you could have a point.”

“good, because you’ve wasted too much of my time and i need to get back to work polishing my fruits,” hyunjin said turning away from the boy and back to his work. “now go and do whatever it is you do at work and leave me alone.”

“always glad that you’re my best friend, i can see how much you love and care for me,” seungmin said, walking out of the display kitchen.

“shut the hell up before i you get hit by one of my perfectly polished pears.”

seungmin was dreading actually starting to do work, reorganizing the displays and assisting customers all day wasn’t his idea of fun. he glanced down at his watch and his soul almost left his body when he realized it had only been fifteen minutes into his seven-hour shift. he was glad that at least he wasted those fifteen minutes talking to hyunjin instead of telling some little kid that the decorative pillows were not for throwing.

seungmin walked around the floor in his department, looking for something to do, anything at all that could entertain him. fortunately, the store was not busy at this time, which was strange for a saturday. it shocked seungmin a bit, it was a saturday after all and everyone seemed to love spending their weekend at ikea. he just hoped they wouldn’t get busy later so his break doesn’t get delayed, after all, he packed a delicious lunch. 

seungmin decided he would kill time by fluffing the display pillows on the couches and making them look at least a little more appealing than they already do. he stood in front of one of the front row couches and stared at it. pastel blue? a blue couch. he couldn’t wrap his mind around the idea that someone would willingly purchase a pastel blue couch. seungmin swears they need to hire new designers, he can’t remember how many times he and hyunjin have made fun of some of the ikea products they saw. it always perplexed him when he witnessed someone going to purchase one of these ugly things. 

he made his way over to the next couch, this one more civil in just a modern black colour, with some dark brown stitching detail. he went to grab the matching dark grey decorative pillows and was preparing to fluff them. he remembered when he was getting trained a couple of months back. how his manager was very strict on how to properly fluff the pillows in order to ensure maximum fluffiness. he scoffed at the memory, who know fluffing a pillow could be so complicated? 

“excuse me sir, but do you work here?” 

seungmin sighed as he placed the pillow down. not even five minutes into work and there's already a customer needing his help. rolling his eyes, he turned around to face the older man and what he saw was not what he expected. the boy in front of him was not a forty-year-old man, but more so a boy who looked close to his own age. the boy in front of him was beautiful, seungmin admired his soft honey brown hair and the way his big brown eyes looked up at him. how did a voice that deep come out of this boy who looks like the physical embodiment of all things pure and holy?

“uh, hello?” 

the sound of the other boy’s deep voice pulled his focus as he rapidly blinked his eyes. he probably thought seungmin looked like a creep just staring, practically memorized by him. seungmin cleared his throat and looked down at his yellow and blue striped shirt and back at the boy who was just looking at him curiously, “uhm, yeah, yeah i do work here. what can i, um, help you with today?”

oh fuck seungmin, why did you stutter, seungmin thought to himself, i’m seriously not embarrassing myself in front of this cute boy. 

the other boy just smiled and let off a soft giggle to seungmin’s reply, and holy shit seungmin died. was that a sparkle in the boy's eyes, or was he imagining things? he can’t be sure at the moment.

“i know that was a dumb question since you’re wearing the uniform and all, but you never know who’s secretly just wearing one of the worst colour combinations i have ever seen.”

seungmin chuckled lightly at the other boy and intertwined his fingers together. seungmin is never awkward around customers, in fact, he’s known for being sarcastic and a little bit blunt with them. but this boy is different, he doesn’t know how to act around him, the last thing he wants to do is mess whatever is going on here.

“well anyways, i have a little bit of an interior decorating issue,” the other boy said.

“i can’t promise you that i can actually help, but i certainly will try for you.”

“for me?” the other boy said taken aback.

“uh, i mean for all customers, yeah, everyone,” seungmin started to feel a blush creep up his neck and onto his cheeks. 

“oh right, that’s what i thought,” the two boys stood in a moment of silence, and seungmin was relieved when the other spoke up first. “so i recently moved into a new apartment, and i bought this couch, but i wanted to get maybe a side table, or even a coffee table for it. i just don’t know what would look good with it.”

“oh okay, not to worry! ikea has a great selection fo tables and i’m sure we can find one perfect for you!” seungmin leant a little closer to the boy, “i promise to show you only the good ones though, not any of the bad ones they want us to sell.”

the other boy just giggled and seungmin felt like he needed to go have a rest. the boy in front of him was too cute, too innocent, he couldn’t keep himself together.

“cute,” seungmin quietly said.

“sorry, did you say something?” 

“tables! i said tables, which we should go to because you need tables and they are right over here!” seungmin lied while feeling his heartbeat rapidly in his chest. as he lead felix over to where their tables were, the other boy didn’t seem to notice what seungmin said and he almost let out a sigh of relief, that would have been awkward. “alright, so tell me what this couch of yours looks like?”

“well it sits about three people; it’s made of fabrics; it has those brass button things going up the side; oh, it’s also yellow!”

“yellow?”

“yeah yellow! you know, like the sun!”

“your couch is sun yellow? that’s cool,” seungmin smiled, he couldn’t resist looking at the other boy and seeing him smiling back.

“i also got these really nice pillows to go with it as well,” he added.

“oh really? what do they look like?” seungmin asked, generously curious to learn about the boys decorating habits. 

“well one of them is just white which is no fun, and the other is white, but it has this really cool silver drawing of a wolf on it. i wish i could show it to you.”

seungmin was shocked, okay a yellow couch was not his taste, but at least the boy had decent pillow picking abilities. “that sounds really neat!”

“really? thanks! my friends constantly tease me about it and they say it’s too girly,” 

“i don’t think so, maybe you need to find friends with a better taste in decorative pillows,” seungmin said meeting eyes with the other boy. 

“maybe i do,” he said as they continued to look at each other in silence. seungmin felt his heart start to beat a little faster. are those freckles he sees on the other’s cheeks? he watched as the other boy licked his lips and seungmin knew he had to focus, he was working for fucks sake.

“seungmin.”

“hm?”

“my name is seungmin,” he introduced himself.

“well seungmin it’s nice to meet you, i’m felix,” felix said sticking out his hand. 

seungmin grabbed it and they briefly shook hands, “nice to meet you too felix. i love your name, very…”

“weird?”

“i was going to say beautiful,” he answered, a new wave of confidence washing over him. 

“o-oh,” felix said, a blush covering his cheeks.

“yeah.. anyway, i think maybe a white side table will look good with your pillows. you can even get a matching lamp, put some photos up, whatever you like.”

“white sounds good. uh, do you have anything in mind?” felix asked, glancing around the tables, but seungmin could tell he was trying not to look at him.

seungmin nodded and lead felix to one of the many white tables they had in stock. “i like this one. it’s not too bulky, it’s sleek, and has a nice design for the handle.”

“oh i love it! i think the silver detail will match the wolf on my pillow!” felix bent down to get a closer look.

seungmin followed and crouched down beside him, “that’s what i thought!”

“you’re a really talented table picker-outer,” felix complimented, turning his head to look at seungmin.

“well you’re a really talented pillow picker-outer,” he retorted.

“you’re eyes are really pretty,” felix said as seungmin felt his stare on him. seungmin let out a little breath of air as felix quickly covered his mouth as his eyes went wide. “i’m so sorry, that was so inappropriate for me to say!”

“it’s fine!” seungmin assured.

“no, it’s not. i could have picked this table out on my own, but i saw you and i needed an excuse to talk to you so i came up with this!”

“an excuse? what? Why?” seungmin asked, confused.

“i think you’re really handsome seungmin, and i wanted to come to say hi, and maybe ask you out. but now i feel like i ruined that chance, i’m so sorry,” felix explained.

“what? you didn’t ruin anything. i thought i was being awkward and making you uncomfortable!”

“seriously?” 

“yes! i think you are so beautiful felix, and your laugh sounds like a million tiny little angels are singing into my ears. i’ve been trying this whole time to keep my cool so i wouldn't freak you out.”

“i don’t think you could ever freak me out.” 

“oh, just wait until you get to know me. i can be really crazy at times.”

felix gave a small laugh, “i would love to see you try. how about tomorrow night?”

“like a date?” seungmin asked. “because if so i would love to!”

“so it’s a date then. if you want to give me your number i can text you my address for when you come to pick me up.”

“forward huh? i like it,” seungmin joked.

“felix! Have you chosen a table yet?” someone shouted. “oh hey seungmin!”

“hey jeongin- wait what? you know felix?” seungmin asked as jeongin approached the two.

“yeah! he’s like my best friend!”

“like?” felix faked shock.

“ugh you know you are my number one forever and ever!” clarified jeongin.

“so what are you doing here innie?” seungmin asked, already knowing the answer. 

“well felix needed a new table so i came to help! but mostly just to see jinnie,” he admitted.

“well it’s fine, seungmin helped me very well,” felix said, throwing aside smirk at seungmin.

“that’s good then lix! so can we go now, i’m hungry,” he complained. 

“yes we can go. i just have to go grab my table,” felix agreed. he waited until jeongin started to walk away before quietly whispering to seungmin, “i’ll text you later tonight, okay?”

“sounds good,” seungmin responded. “see you tomorrow beautiful.”

seungmin stood in the table section for a couple of moments watching as felix walked away. he was baffled in himself, he never had that much confidence before to openly flirt with someone, and yet he just scored himself a date. he had to tell hyunjin this.

at the end of the night, while lying in bed, seungmin received a text from an unknown number.

  
  


** _hey :)_ **

** _here’s my address (address 1 attached)_ **

** _how does 7 sound?_ **

** _can’t wait to see you_ **

** _this is felix by the way <3_ **

it was in the moment where he closed his eyes to drift off to sleep, he realized, maybe hyunjin was right. maybe he was meant to fall in love after all. maybe true love was going to be right i n front of him, only five minutes away. 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed this. i never write in this style (informal, comedic, etc.) so i hope it was good.


End file.
